Embodiments of the present invention provide a method an apparatus for allocating memory for use by a graphics processor. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus and method for sorting portions of memory being allocated based on memory device organization.
A graphics processor requires.large amounts of contiguous memory for processing and displaying images. Dedicated xe2x80x9cgraphicsxe2x80x9d memory may be provided to meet this requirement; however, this additional memory increases the costs associated with graphics processing. Another approach is to allocate operating system (or xe2x80x9csystemxe2x80x9d) memory for use by the graphics processor. Traditionally, this approach required xe2x80x9clocking downxe2x80x9d large amounts of system memory for exclusive use by the graphics processor. The operating system was often left with an insufficient amount of memory as a result.
System memory can be implemented on multiple memory devices. For example, system memory may be implemented on a group of DRAM devices. Each memory device may be in an active state or an inactive state. The time it takes to access a memory device that is in an active state is less than the time it takes to access a memory device in an inactive state. In some systems, a memory device will transition to an inactive state after each memory access unless that memory device is also accessed in the next cycle, in which case it will stay in an active state at least until the next cycle.